A few days after the final Operator Navi selection test the promotions for the expo are underway, including a TV ad campaign featuring Megaman that he finds incredibly embarrassing, though Lan couldn't be more excited. As soon as the commercial they're watching on TV ends someone calls his phone, and though the person on the other end plays coy at first, Lan recognizes the caller as Mayl from back in ACDC Town. Everyone there's seen the expo commercials and are curious as to how Lan and Megaman have been doing in Cyber City. As he talks Lan realizes that he's been missing his hometown, and so makes plans to visit there once the weekend comes.
And come it does. But of course I won't be heading straight there. Not only do we get two emails letting us know that the last two Link Navi classes are now available, but there are also a handful of new jobs to tackle. So those first, especially since once we head to ACDC there won't be much time to do them until a fair bit later.
Job 10: Got a Problem
For this job, a trainer at the Seaside Aquarium wants help with a problem she has: despite working at the aquarium, she can't swim! Since Lan says he doesn't know how to teach someone to swim, the woman asks him to go to Cyber Academy and get some swimming tips from a student called Dolphin. Dolphin turns out to be a fat kid whose advice is to “get fat”, his reasoning being extra body fat, or blubber, will help people move like fish. Sure... He gives us some French fries to give to the woman, who very reluctantly accepts. We're given the Invite Card item, which contains a program compression code, which is borderline useless by itself since there's no way to tell what program it's for other than through trial and error, and I'm certainly not going to waste time figuring it out! On the bright side though, completing this job nets us enough request points to reach B-rank, meaning that we can take on two-star jobs now. However, there're still a few more one-star ones to finish first.
While we're at the aquarium, the Quiz Master is by the console for the Aquarium Computer.
- Q1: What it the attack power of Time Bomb 1? (150)
- Q2: Does a needle have an “eye”, “ear”, or “mouth”? (eye)
- Q3: What does PET stand for? (PE-sonal Terminal)
- Q4: In the Green Town Courtroom foyer, what is written? (Truth)
- Q5: 6, 4, or 8 – which one takes the most strokes to write? (4)
- Q6: Which one of these is not in the Seaside Aquarium? (fur seal)
- Q7: If you get hit with an attack from a Mettaur and a Champy, how much damage would you take? (30)
- Q8: Um... What question number is this? (8)
- Q9: Which of the following areas has a Net Merchant? (Seaside Area 3)
- Q10: The year 3001 will be which century? (31st century)
We're given the Slip Runner program as a prize, which is a completely useless novelty program that has Megaman move like he's on ice on the overworld.
Job 11: Songwriter
A musician in Sky Area 1 is depressed that he can't come up with a good song and we have to hep him pick out good lyrics or he'll try to kill himself with viruses. A simple job, and the reward is a Regular UP 2.
That's the last of the one-star jobs. On to the two-star ones.
Job 12: For Victory!
A Navi in Central Area 1 wants the Gun del Sol 1 C chip. That's easy, since Tab sells them for 1000z apiece. The reward is an HP Memory.
Job 13: Juvenile Division
A Navi inside the bulletin board in Cyber Academy's foyer wants our help solving a bullying problem. The kid who's being bullied is in front of Aster Land, with the robot dog from the very beginning of the game. Since he's terrible at virus busting he has no friends, and just wants us to leave him alone so that he can play with the dog. Then the dog gets infected with a virus, and upon jacking in we learn that it's a set-up by another member of the Net Police's Juvenile Division to inspire the kid. Everything works out, and we're given the Folder Pack 1 program.
Job 14: Stock Up!
A kid at the aquarium wants us to go to Seaside Area 1 and buy sushi ingredients from merchants there. We're given 10000z to work with, and the idea is that you should go for the merchants selling the cheapest ingredients. I don't really pay much mind since they're all pretty cheap anyway. The reward is Secret Memo, which contains a code for an HP + 200.
Job 15: Stand-In Recruit
Once again a job calls upon Megaman to take part in a movie, this time at the Aquarium homepage. Just like the job with the songwriter we have to pick the correct dialogue options. An HP Memory is our reward.
Job 16: Penguins Ran Away
It seems that some of the aquarium's penguins still have yet to return following the Diveman incident. There are five to find, one's still in the aquarium, one's in Seaside Town, one's in Aster Land, Cyber Academy, and even Lan's bathroom! We're given the Penguins' Thanks, a code for the Rush program.
Job 17: Lumber Merchant
A cyberlumberjack's axe has gone rusty in Green Area, so we're tasked with getting him a new one. We're told to go see a “Spirit of the Spring” in Seaside Area 3 to exchange his worn axe for a golden one. The spring turns out to be just a bucket, and the spirit a cranky Program. What follows is a parody of the Honest Axe fairy tale, but we do get our new axe. The reward is ten Bug Frags.
Job 18: Buy Which Stock?
This is easy money. A Navi in Sky Area wants our advice on what company to invest stock in, for a cut of the earnings. Our choices are Not Toyota, Not Apple, and a company that makes spaceplane parts called Blackhole (sic). Blackhole is noted to be a risky venture, so that's our decision. After consulting with the stock broker in the Undernet (I see what you did there, game), returning to the client nets us 100000z. Very nice indeed. Our rank gets booted up to A as well.
Job 19: Update Help
A scientist at the aquarium wants our help in distributing updates to Programs inside of the Aquarium Computer, which is a matter of finding them inside and simply talking to them. However, once we jack out the scientist realizes that he gave us incompatible data and we have to go back in, douse the now-overheating-Programs just like in the Blastman scenario, and give them the proper data. The reward is a Mega Folder + 2. On to the available three-star jobs.
Job 20: Time Capsule
A man from Green Town wants us to find a time capsule he and his friends buried on the Net as kids. We can find it in Green Area 2, in one of the trees near the big, giant one. It turns out the reason he wanted us to find it was because he wrote down the name of the girl he had a crush on inside of it, but since she ended up marrying another one of his friends he wants to change the name so things don't get awkward. An HP Memory is the reward.
Job 21: Find the Virus!
Mr. Famous turns out to be the client for this one. He tells us that viruses have escaped into Central Town and Seaside Town from the Virus Lab at Sci Lab, and naturally we have to delete them. There are five viruses, which entails finding the five computers that they're infecting and deleting them. The reward is Fast Gauge *...which I already have from Tab, but the gesture's appreciated.
Job 22: Can't Open Safe
A Navi inside a popcorn machine at the aquarium can't open a safe, and rather than simply ask his operator what the combination is, he's soliciting outside help. There's a hint provided that involves the number of certain animals at the aquarium, and once the safe's open the Navi gives us the program Millions. My rank goes up again to S, but at the moment there aren't any four-star jobs available.
Job 23: Get the Bad Guy
This is a request from the Net Police. This is easy, there are six criminal Navis in Central Area that we have to take out. The reward for beating them all is a Custom + 2.
Those are all of the jobs available at the moment, and since I've managed to pad out this update by a more-than-sufficient amount, it's time to get the final two Crosses. The first Link Navi class is the one I'm closest to, the one being held by the gloomy young man in the lab right next to Mr. Match's at school. His name is revealed to be Dark Scythe
◊, and it's no coincidence that he shares his name with Dark, Shadowman's operator, as when Lan points that out he says that he learned the art of assassination from him. Luckily, Scythe only assassinates Navis, and he says that his day job right now is a teacher. What is with this school and criminals, really?
Oh, right. Cain, no doubt.
We will be operating the Grim Reaper Navi Eraseman
◊ (formerly Killerman) for this segment. Aside from the name, what I find interesting about Eraseman is that while every other Navi in the series has a completely static idle pose in battle (save more maybe blinking lights or another, similar effect) he actually bobs up and down like a fighting game character, and his “hair” is perpetually moving like there's a constant wind. His charge attack has him swing his scythe, slashing the column two panels ahead while his chip, Erase Delete Beam K, sends a cursor around the perimeter of the field, stunning the first enemy it hits and then zapping it with a piercing beam of electricity.
The computer we start in is the one that connects to Undernet 1, and our mission for the day, something that Eraseman is very excited about, is to delete a gang of Navis across both Undernet areas. Deleting them is a matter of sneaking up behind them and hitting A, upon which Eraseman will mutter “Sweet dreams.” and instantly finish them off.
So, this is a stealth mission, but it's (surprise) executed a lot better than the one in Battle Network 4 was. Here the targets don't wander around, there's a recticle on the field at all times showing you where their line of sight is, you can hold down A to have Eraseman turn invisible, and even if you're spotted, all that means is that you have to fight a battle to delete the target. There's pretty much no way to fail.
On to the battle.
Eraseman
HP: 800
Element: Cursor
Attacks:
- Hell's Sickle – Eraseman slashes the column two panels ahead with his scythe for 60 Sword damage.
- Misty Demon – Purple ghosts constantly fly down the field for 30 damage.
- Erase Delete Beam – A cursor circles the perimeter of the field, stunning Megaman if he should get hit. Eraseman will then hit him with a beam of electricity for 100 Elec damage.
Eraseman is a Navi that's not that strong on his own but compensates just by clogging up the field with projectiles. Misty Demon isn't very damaging and the ghosts can easily be destroyed with a single buster shot, but they're very fast. The only thing that really throws me off in this fight is Hell's Sickle, simply because I'm used to Wide Sword-ranged attacks only hitting the column immediately in front of the user.
Winning gives us Eraseman K. He uses Erase Delete Beam, which works the same way as his chip attack does.
Eraseman is now our newest Link Navi, and he can remove the geysers and clouds on the Net. And of course, we get our fourth Cross.
- Megaman becomes Cursor element
- Charge attack has Megaman fire an optic laser beam down one row
- If a virus has the digit four in its current HP count a Normal chip attack will instantly delete it. A boss will instead be inflicted with an HP-draining bug.
- Cursor chips are powered up by thirty points
A rather situational Cross, given that it's themed around Four Is Death, but the buff to the Machine Gun series is welcome. Erase Beast's
◊ special attack has Megaman fire a spine from his tail at an enemy, damaging it and infecting the enemy with a bug.
Next it's to the vending machines at the aquarium, where Al Ferry awaits. We're going to be running his cyberrailroad, involving the operation of Chargeman. Chargeman's charge attack is quite powerful, having him become invincible and dash down one row. Metal cars will appear behind him for each empty panel behind him, increasing the damage. His chip, Volcano Charge C, has him spew molten fireballs from his smokestack onto the enemy field.
The vending machine connects to Undernet 2 where the first of several cyberstations are waiting for us. This class involves Chargeman transporting Program between various stations on the Net. This minigame has him on a field that's constantly scrolling to the right, and he has to dodge obstacles and viruses (or smash through them by charging up) while picking up Programs on the tracks. If he gets hit or misses a Program he'll get a “miss”, and get too many and he has to start over. Not hard, but does require you to pay attention, especially since the final section has several barriers to break through in a row. Once we're finished, it's fighting time.
Chargeman
HP: 1000
Element: Fire
Attacks:
- Panic Train – Chargeman is constantly moving down the field, accompanied by two cars for 80 damage.
- Volcano Charge – Chargeman's smokestack spews flaming debris onto Megaman's side of the field for 50 Fire damage.
- Crazy Locomotive – Chargeman glows red with invincibility and rapidly dashes down the field several times, with a trail of cars behind him for 100 Break damage.
Chargeman's kinda interesting as he's constantly moving. However, since he doesn't have the Super Armor ability, Slash Cross will literally stop him in his tracks.
Winning gives us Chargeman C. It has him perform Crazy Locomotive, doing more damage the more empty panels there are behind him.
With that Chargeman becomes a Link Navi as well. He can remove the whirlwinds and fires. And finally, we have our fifth and final Cross.
- Megaman becomes Fire element
- Charge attack has him dash down a two-panel range
- Megaman gains an extra chip on the Custom Screen for each turn the Cross is active
- Fire chips can be charged to increase their power, maxing out at + 100
It's kind of strange that there are two Fire Crosses in this game. Perhaps one of them was originally going to be Cybeast Falzar-exclusive but they couldn't come up with a good Falzar design? That version happens to have two Break Crosses, so who knows? Either way, there's no denying that the ability to increase the chip selection is very handy. Charge Beast's
◊ special attack has Megaman first roar, stunning all enemies, then having him fire an apparition of Gregar's head down the row.
With that, I believe it's finally time to head on to see things back in ACDC.
Virus Listing
- Heady
- Headies are renamed Megalians, returning from Battle Network 2. These floating statue heads attack by launching themselves down one row. They use elemental auras to protect themselves and come in four varieties - Aqua, Heat, Wood, and Elec. These auras can be stripped away by using an attack that deals at least as much damage as the indicated number (10, 40, 80, and 100 respectively). Hitting an aura with its elemental weakness will not only remove it regardless of power, but will also damage the virus as normal.
- Nightmare
- Nightmares are a lot like the old Shadow viruses in that they're living shadows that can only be damaged by blade-based attacks. They attack by appearing either in front of or behind Megaman and slashing him with a Wide Sword.
- Kettle
- Kettles are constantly boiling. Occasionally they'll boil over and hit their surrounding panels with scalding hot water. Their HP is given in degrees Celsius, and they will be deleted when reaching boiling point. Fire attacks will instantly delete them.
